Today, Wikipedia flagged up a new article, Coffee production in India, with a interesting piece of history. Quoting in full from the article:
This story is very similar to the one often told, of how saffron was (re)introduced to Europe by a pilgrim returning from the Holy Land smuggling corms hidden in his staff. However, the Wikipedia article History of Saffron seems to completely discredit this tale.
Coffee growing has a long history that is attributed first to Ethiopia and then to Arabia, mostly to Yemen. However, the earliest history is traced to 875 AD according to the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. The original source is also traced to Ethiopia from where it was brought to Arabia in the 15th century. The Indian context started with an Indian Muslim saint, Baba Budan, while on a pilgrimage to Mecca, smuggled seven coffee beans (by tying it around his waist) from Yemen to Mysore in India and planted them on the Chandragiri Hills (1,829 metres (6,001 ft)), now named after the saint as Baba Budan Giri (‘Giri’ means “hill”) in Chikkamagaluru district. It was considered an illegal act to take out green coffee seed out of Arabia. As number seven is a sacrosanct number in Islamic religion, the saint’s act of carrying seven coffee beans was considered a religious act. This was the beginning of coffee industry in India, and in particular, in the then state of Mysore, now part of the Karnataka State. This was an achievement of considerable bravery of Baba Budan considering the fact that Arabs had exercised strict control over its export to other countries by not permitting coffee beans to be exported in any form other than as in a roasted or boiled form to prevent germination.
Returning to coffee, the names for this beverage in all but one of the languages I have looked into are derived from the Arabic qahwa, which arrived in European languages via the Turkish kahve.
The one exception I know is Amharic, the national language of Ethiopia in which it is called bunna. So the Ethiopians, it seems, are keeping their original name for their drink.
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